I agree, I don't like poisons, only use them as a very last resort. Can be an issue with pets eating the baits and contaminated rodents also. There are some fantastic and very effective mouse traps available which is my preferred method.

_________________MONEY can't buy happiness....but it can buy CHOOKS, and that's pretty much the same thing

Currently not really winning with mouse/rat issues - can you share how the traps you are talking of work, and where they are available? I'm doing a mix of baiting, live traps, snap traps, nothing I'd call very effective, more just a series of band-aids.

Its harder when there is lots of scraps and poultry feed lying around. Sometimes I will move all the birds to a new location to make the rodents a bit more hungry. I have tried many different traps, but gone back to the snap traps. I get them from bunnings, they are white and called "big cheese". I find the tick is in the bait, I tried commercial tube paste was useless and now just use peanut butter or piece of bacon/ham. You need to check the traps regularly though.

_________________MONEY can't buy happiness....but it can buy CHOOKS, and that's pretty much the same thing

I use cage traps and find them to be very effective. There is a commercial dog food snack with a hole in the middle which is ideal hang on the wire trigger in the trap. To attract rats to the traps I keep the fines from the bottom of the dry dog food bag and sprinkle a little around each trap. The advantage of the cage trap is that it is less likely to spring without catching the rat which makes rats trap shy. The disadvantage is that you are left with the task of killing the rats once trapped. One of my dogs does the job very effectively, and she loves doing it.

Thanks both replies - I use those Bunnings traps for mice, extra good. The rat traps aren't effective, they cleverly spring them easily. With the numbers here the odd one snap-caught, even every night, doesn't make a difference. Muscovy duck caught and ate one this morning, big rat, zigged when it should have zagged, very healthy. But it means I won't bait again if ducks might eat them aside from the owls issue. (Cropping country, wheat silos around, all that - so has to be an ongoing project). Just paid $60 for a rat cage trap and they force the bars and escape. Will have to home-make one to do the job. Need a dog like your fuscipes. Can't get Jack Russels while we have our very old dog, he just wouldn't cope.

Cropping country, wheat silos around, all that - so has to be an ongoing project

Sounds like your in the a rural area. Shooting rats at night using a air rifle (requires a license but you might know someone willing to help) works well. A good scope and light attached is very effective as it sounds like you have a real problem, in which case they would be in trees and all around the place. I can't stand rats!

a drum or big bucket with a cycliner that spins is also good and effective if you have a lot of rodents. Can make them yourself or buy a kit.

_________________MONEY can't buy happiness....but it can buy CHOOKS, and that's pretty much the same thing

These are two of the traps. They are sturdy enough and I was going to say that rats have never escaped from them but while I was getting the camera a small rat disappeared from one trap. Perhaps a Butcher Bird winkled it out? I bought four traps on eBay for around $40 and have caught more than a hundred rats over the last few years. When I first started I was amazed to catch about fifty in the first few weeks as I had no idea that there were so many. After the initial surge, the catch settled down to about one every few weeks. Of course, they will never be eradicated but it does keep them under control. I still use a bit of warfarin type bait occasionally in places such as the house roof cavity.In my location there is not an abundant food supply in the vicinity so a big part of my strategy is to stop feeding them.

Thanks, they look like single-catch. I'm still on the lookout for a really reliable useful multi-catch. Seems it should be such a simple thing for a good design engineer. Closest I've seen is a home-made item, but just not within everyone's ability to make.

I've made a few of the roller on a bucket type, they are okay for mice but rats have the extra power to jump when it starts to roll, just not as effective for rats, and they are intelligent enough to watch and learn from others' mistakes.

With the drought and less free water everywhere for them, I'm finding quite a few drowned in 'ordinary' ten-litre buckets with a couple of inches of water, no roller bar. They hop in for a drink and can't get purchase to leap out. Thirty in a week, just 'by accident'. Not enough to make a dent, but still thirty. Will dot more buckets around to cover a few more shed and pen areas before it rains (pigs might fly).

Good link. And good long-term thinking. The trap photo looks interesting, haven't seen one like it, but appears to be only for mice: I need a ratty one.One aspect of our rat problem is that the rats have killed off the shed/pens mouse population, so we now have no mice coming into the house which is good. Strange that rats never try to enter the house.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Brandwatch and 10 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum